[ale] Seeking horror/success stories & trends for double monitor setup

[JD]

I use dual monitors driven by a single, $60, nvidia card. Only 1 X/windows
instance is needed and I'm fairly happen with 1900x1280 and 1900x1080.

Last time I ran multiple X-instances, there was no way to copy/paste using the
X/buffer between them. That is a non-starter for me.

A blog article about dual monitor setup under nvidia that doesn't use any distro
specific commands:
http://blog.jdpfu.com/2010/05/12/ubuntu-10-04-dual-monitor-with-nvidia-driver
The comments are good too.


On 03/09/2013 06:39 PM, Tom Freeman wrote:
> 
> I have experimented a little bit running double monitor heads off a single
> graphics card (nvidia), where the displays were not same generation devices. I
> was working with twinview (think that is the term) under the then current Fedora
> release (17? sounds right as it was last fall). I got the whole thing working
> easily enough, but with enough potholes to make life less enchanting. I also got
> things going on an ASUS laptop, again nvidia adapter, under Ubuntu 12.04 with
> basically the same experience.
> 
> My goal is to set up a system with enough screen real estate to do online
> grading of scanned papers, hold virtual office hours with a video chat system
> (nobody shows up, but the school expects such and will check) without covering
> that up so I miss people, and hopefully be able to page back and forth through
> the key. All of this in a big enough format so old age eyes can see well enough
> to stay focused on the job and not on the navigation.
> 
> On the basis of last fall's efforts, I know a few potholes to miss.
> 
> Big thing for me will probably be a wide horizontal area to park things in and
> on. I was trying to work in a restricted space (left to right), and there wasn't
> enough physical space for all the stuff I needed. This I think I can handle...
> 
> Next biggest thing, for me at least, was that the old monitors I was using did
> not want to agree on a usuable, common verticle dimenstion, leaving one screen
> with part of the desktop chopped off. That blank area was a wonderful place to
> lose things. Of course, if I could get paid to lose things, I'd get filthy rich,
> so that doesn't help.
> 
> Because of what I am doing, getting both screens completely color matched isn't
> that crucial, although the best I achieved was pretty jaring at times. I _will_
> need to get that challenge sorted better.
> 
> Now, assuming that the cat's vet bill, the girl friend's birthday bills, fuel
> prices don't skyrocket, and I can remember the grandtwins birthday stuff without
> going extremely broke - I have a system which needs full replacement (power
> supply, motherboard, video card(s), hard disk, and probably a double arm load of
> USB ports), so I'd like to do it well. I turn to the group to get a  handle on
> what stuff makes adequate sense for an adjunct instructor. I'm not looking for
> exact specs, but I am looking for ideas to implement for success and ideas to
> avoid for success. The time frame is at least a month and a half out - possibly
> longer.
> 
> Do I want to run two separate X systems - and if I do is this still a unified
> desktop? I assume it is possible with two X systems to run both a video card and
> the built in video chip set, but is this a good way to go to get possibly wildly
> mismatched monitors to cooperate without blank parts?
> 
> Is it likely feasable to get mismatched monitors to behave themselves, or is the
> aggrivation factor such that a purpose bought will save their cost in ulcers &
> hair pulling?
> 
> Thanks for the use of your bandwidth
>